Star Trek: Voyager Documentary Planned for 2022

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by oneway23

It was just screened on the recent Star Trek cruise. Disclaimer...I was not there, I did not see it.

[Show spoiler]From what I've heard, they did not have a hook quite on the level of the hypothetical Season 8 bit they did for the DS9 doc, so, they supplemented this presentation with some very tedious footage of Garrett Wang. Perhaps not surprising, seeing as he was an Exec. Producer on the documentary.

Unfortunately, at least in the cut screened to attendees, instead of leaving the footage as a fairly useless, yet innocuous, bonus feature, the team elected to insert said material into the doc and cut to it throughout.

To be fair to the team, initial interviews were shot on a Star Trek cruise years ago. They needed a second round of conversations, and COVID kind of screwed things up. They did finally do this last year, I believe.

The tone has also changed quite a bit, as Seven & Janeway had not reconciled when they first started, not to mention Robert Beltran, who was, by all accounts, cantankerous and a bit bitter in the initial round of conversations, only to later come to terms with his role in the franchise upon returning with Prodigy in the interim.

In any case, I'm grateful, in a way, that things ended up as they did, as they were able to get Jeri Taylor in an onscreen interview prior to her passing, which, in and of itself, is amazing, because she very rarely gave interviews on camera.

I'll end the novella by saying that the doc seems to be a lot more about the Voyager fanbase than was originally conceived. Whether or not that remains the case, I have no idea, but, this should hopefully be out by the fall.

Anything on the remastered (& widescreen) footage & VFX?

[oneway23]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Anything on the remastered (& widescreen) footage & VFX?

Hi Peter.

I know those bits were a huge hit on the DS9 doc. The original fundraising campaign did hit the stretch goal of remastering the program footage, but, I've heard nothing about how it looks, aside from the teaser image from the Indiegogo page from a couple of years ago.

I'm sorry to give such a non-substantive answer.

[starmike]

Got this today

---

Dear Backers,

It’s been a while since our last email update, and we recognize that we haven’t communicated directly with the entire backer community in some time. While we’ve shared updates through webcasts and at conventions, we know how important it is to keep everyone informed—and we’re committed to doing better.

We want to assure you that the Star Trek Voyager documentary is still very much in progress. We’re now in the final stages of post-production on an improved version of the film—shaped by feedback from early screenings and enriched by a new interview with Kate Mulgrew. Taking the time to get it right and deliver a documentary worthy of Voyager’s legacy has remained our top priority as it's been for What We Left Behind, For the Love of Spock, and our other projects.

While we had planned to begin distribution around this time, we now expect to deliver backer screeners by the end of April 2025. Timing for the DVD/Blu-ray combo and the official release is still being finalized, and we’ll share more details as soon as we have them.

We’re incredibly grateful for your continued patience and support. This project has only been possible because of you, and we’re working hard to deliver a film that reflects the passion and commitment of the Star Trek Voyager community.

If you have questions, feel free to get in touch at voyagerdocumentary@gmail.com (voyagerdocumentary@gmail.com)—we’ll respond promptly.

Live long and prosper,
The 455 Films Team

[MarcelS1]

Received this also today. It means it will take a couple months at least I guess before we have are own blu-ray copy.

[Indiana Jones]

Originally Posted by MarcelS1

Received this also today. It means it will take a couple months at least I guess before we have are own blu-ray copy.

Funded so long ago now I am not really thinking about it anymore, just know one day a package will show up and I will think "oh cool something to watch"

[MarcelS1]

Originally Posted by Indiana Jones

Funded so long ago now I am not really thinking about it anymore, just know one day a package will show up and I will think "oh cool something to watch"

You are right of course !
Still I am looking forward to this documentary for so long now, In October 3 years after its initial expected availability on Blu! Oh well, just relax

[oneway23]

It looks like screener links might be starting to go out via e-mail to backers.

[BenjaminG]

Originally Posted by oneway23

It looks like screener links might be starting to go out via e-mail to backers.

Yep, got mine today.

Looks fine enough. I scrubbed through to see how great Voyager looks in HD... expect it isn't. All footage, with the exception of some CG beauty shots recreations... it's all presented in window boxed, very obviously upscaled footage. Very disappointing about the projects lack of transparency in this.

[oneway23]

Originally Posted by BenjaminG

Yep, got mine today.

Looks fine enough. I scrubbed through to see how great Voyager looks in HD... expect it isn't. All footage, with the exception of some CG beauty shots recreations... it's all presented in window boxed, very obviously upscaled footage. Very disappointing about the projects lack of transparency in this.

Yes, this is a really disappointing development.

When PeterTHX had asked me a couple of weeks ago about the footage, I did begin to wonder why no one had really mentioned it in their reviews from the cruise.

To my knowledge, this particular stretch goal was hit by a mile, and, barring Paramount outright refusing to cooperate, which...I don't know why they wouldn't do so, given the massive success of What We Left Behind, this was promised and it's absolutely baffling what happened here.

[LeftHandedGuitarist]

Originally Posted by BenjaminG

Yep, got mine today.

Looks fine enough. I scrubbed through to see how great Voyager looks in HD... expect it isn't. All footage, with the exception of some CG beauty shots recreations... it's all presented in window boxed, very obviously upscaled footage. Very disappointing about the projects lack of transparency in this.

This is shocking. It was the main draw for me. What on Earth has gone wrong here?

[oneway23]

Originally Posted by LeftHandedGuitarist

This is shocking. It was the main draw for me. What on Earth has gone wrong here?

I'm sorry, folks...I don't mean to be a killjoy here, but, I have to get this off my chest.

I don't want to harp on this, but, the Garrett Wang footage makes it extremely obvious that they padded the runtime out because they hit a stretch goal and felt obligated to hit the time they promised.

As for the HD footage, I have no idea what happened here.

That was a main draw for a lot of backers, myself included, and the HD screenshot provided a couple of years ago as an example of what to expect from the finish project was miles beyond what we got. There's no excuse for the team to not have been more transparent here. If they couldn't make the HD stretch goal happen, they should have said so as soon as they knew.

[BenjaminG]

Originally Posted by oneway23

There's no excuse for the team to not have been more transparent here. If they couldn't make the HD stretch goal happen, they should have said so as soon as they knew.

Yep, and another one of the stretch goals, the licensing of Jerry Goldsmith's theme song, was also not fulfilled. Considering the film makers raised $1.2m, I'm not sure where the money went. I've seen YouTube documentaries with higher production values.

[MarcelS1]

Originally Posted by oneway23

It looks like screener links might be starting to go out via e-mail to backers.

Indeed!

[Cap.T]

I just watched it as well and enjoyed it mostly. It's not as good as the DS9-Doc and not just because there were no remastered HD-Clips apart from the handful of short CGI-Sequences.

Personally I just wanted to hear a lot more from the crew that worked on the show. The short moments were Michael Westmore, Michael Okuda and Dan Curry were allowed to talk about their work could have been much longer and other crew should have been include as well.

Instead Garrett Wang's Zero-G Flight a few years ago constantly interrupts the flow of the Doc. I get that they probalby didn't want just "Talking Heads" and clips from the show for an hour and 45 minutes, but that Zero-G Flight stuff pulled me out of the viewing experince every time. That time, at least for me, would have better been spend with more "Talking Heads".

The Interviews we did get, were for the most part pretty honest. And being able to see and hear Jeri Taylor talk about her time on Star Trek a few years before her death was a real gift. I would have loved to hear more of her insides as well.

Again, apart from the above mentioned bizarre editing choice and the disappoinment about the SD-Clips I really enjoyed the doc. Seeing so many cast, crew and studio people talk about the show was great, even though to Hardcore-Trekfans none of the talked about topics will contain anything new.

[starmike]

No screener link here, but I don't remember which tier I got. All I remember was that I got the coffee mug replica.

[oneway23]

Originally Posted by starmike

No screener link here, but I don't remember which tier I got. All I remember was that I got the coffee mug replica.

Hi Mike...Unfortunately, the Janeway replica mug did not include a digital download.

[oneway23]

Man...They left that Garrett Wang footage in the main doc, just as I mentioned last month....Was hoping they would take feedback on that and make it a special feature, because it's really jarring to cut away so often to such, frankly, boring footage.

That said, I agree. Seeing Jeri Taylor give an on-screen interview when she rarely ever gave one was such a treat.

I don't know for sure, but, my impression is that there could be further changes between now and the official release.

Please don't quote me on that. Treat that as pure speculation on my part.

Overall, it's a charming look at a show which, much like DS9, has grown in esteem since the streaming era began, but, in my humble opinion, this doc, as it currently stands, is nowhere near in the same ballpark as What We Left Behind. It's definitely a little rough in spots. Hopefully they can tighten it up a little bit before official release.

[oneway23]

I'm not well-versed in video production or editing, so, please take this as intended. It's just a question, nothing more. I'm not saying anything accusatory, I'm simply wondering.

For those here with the proper experience: Is it possible that AI was involved in the presentation of this upscaled footage?

[BenjaminG]

Originally Posted by oneway23

For those here with the proper experience: Is it possible that AI was involved in the presentation of this upscaled footage?

Yes, the hallmarks of AI upscaling is evident. It's not egregious, but is obvious.

[Cap.T]

Honestly the footage from the episodes didn't even look upscaled to me. Looked like typically 90s era SD Video.